Culture Week 2023

Category: Diversity, Media Team, News, Students write

Our school is very much culturally diverse, and last week really highlighted all the wonderful traditions, and heritage of many different countries across the world.  

From dance workshops to language taster sessions, needless to say, Culture Week was quite busy, with several interesting lunchtimes activities running nearly every day – and not to forget a whole evening of cultural celebrations!  

Languages are the foundation of our world, and it is really important to appreciate the variety of completely different languages which are spoken across the world . Therefore, for culture week, the Language Ambassadors decided to do some taster sessions during lunchtimes for some of these languages, teaching key phrases, how to write in them and sharing interesting facts about them. These languages include Hindi, Gujurati, Punjabi, Cantonese and Russian, and people who attended enjoyed it very much! Showings of films in different languages, such as Howl’s Moving Castle and Encanto were also held in West Wing.  

In the Music Department, there was an Indian Singing Workshop which focused on Hindustani classical singing and we learned about Indian musical notation and finished off by having a look at a lovely choral piece called Tarekita.  

Throughout the week, there were also dance workshops which many of the students engaged in such as the Bharatnatyam and Kathak workshop.  

The RS department also organised quite a few events throughout the week. Christian Union hosted the ‘Paper Bag Challenge’ which taught students about the value of money and work in the developing world. There was also a really fascinating talk on Cultural Diversity in Islam by Usma Chaudry, a guest speaker and a lunchtime Mandala Art activity. During Culture Week, AGGS’ Hindu Society hosted a variety of workshops. This included a stall on how to wear a saree, a liquid bindi station and a rangoli pattern workshop. Students from all ages, cultures and backgrounds learnt about why Hindus wear a bindi as well as the cultural significance of the sari; The whole session was extremely informative and fun!  

Culture Evening,which took place Wednesday after school, was a massive success, with several wonderful performances of songs and dance and a fashion show which showcased a variety of wonderful cultural outfits. The food was also brilliant! 

On the last day of Culture Week, the school hosted a Cultural Dress Day where students and teachers alike wore outfits native to their cultures, including zhongshans, abayas, saaris, salwar kameezzes, and dishikis. They were all very unique and certainly colourful compared to our school uniforms! 

One of the best things about Culture Week was that most activities were student led, and it was fantastic to see so many societies and groups such as the Language and Diversity Ambassadors organising so many of these events. The activities were a really good learning experience and it was great to see the school community participating in all of these. Thank you to everyone who organised and helped in the duration of the week and to all the students who took part in the events and activities!

Written by Preet and Jahnavi – AGGS Media Team